“Magical”: The moment David Gilmour became a fan of Steve Gadd
It’s often overlooked, but David Gilmour has collaborated with an impressive array of talented musicians throughout his career. While his roster of collaborators may not be as extensive as that of Neil Young or David Bowie, beyond his work with Pink Floyd bandmates Syd Barrett, Roger Waters, Richard Wright, and Nick Mason, Gilmour has crossed paths with several other acclaimed musical forces.
Pink Floyd were no strangers to drafting in outside help in their prime, as ‘Have a Cigar’ from Wish You Were Here confirms. The band enlisted their friend, Roy Harper, to deliver the vocals, as neither Gilmour nor Waters felt comfortable with their singing on previous takes. Elsewhere, and perhaps most famously, Clare Torry’s impassioned wailing on ‘The Great Gig in the Sky’ made that song truly astounding and a highlight of The Dark Side of the Moon.
This idea of collaborating with other people was something that Gilmour would continue to explore in his solo career and the latter stages of Pink Floyd after Waters left under a cloud, and it was up to him to steer the ship. While his 1978 self-titled debut only features a modest cast of characters, 1984’s follow-up, About Face, boasts an impressive list of collaborators, including Jeff Porcaro, Pino Palladino, Jon Lord, Anne Dudley, Steve Windwood, Michael Kamen, and many more.
When Gilmour agreed to revive Pink Floyd with Mason and Wright for 1987’s A Momentary Lapse of Reason, an impressive lineup of legends, including Tony Levin, Jim Keltner, Carmine Appice, and others, helped the band navigate the difficult transition following Roger Waters’ departure. 1994’s The Division Bell followed a similar collaborative approach, and 20 years later, the band’s final album, The Endless River, featured the most eclectic array of contributors in their history. Co-producers Youth and Phil Manzanera played key roles, and in one of the most unexpected musical pairings of the century, even the Britain’s Got Talent electronic string quartet, Escala, joined the project.
In his solo work since the end of Pink Floyd, Gilmour continued to use others’ strengths. In another remarkable twist, hearing the backing vocals of Graham Nash and David Crosby in 2015’s Rattle That Lock remains delightful.
It’s no surprise that Gilmour didn’t veer too far from this established path on his acclaimed 2024 follow-up to that album, Luck and Strange. While the record is celebrated for Gilmour pushing himself out of his comfort zone by working with Alt-J producer Charlie Andrew, whose distinct sonic context helped him evolve, one notable addition was the legendary American drummer Steve Gadd, who performed on five tracks and brought his technical nouse to the fold. Famed for his scintillating drum solo on Steely Dan’s masterpiece ‘Aja’, Gadd’s jazz fusion has also underpinned celebrated works by Eric Clapton, Simon and Garfunkel, and Chick Corea.
In a recent interview with Rick Beato, Gilmour revealed that he had been a fan of Gadd for a long time, and he looked back on the somewhat obscure hit that first fascinated him with his rhythms. He revealed: “Well, you know, when did I become a fan of Steve Gadd? I think it was on ‘Chuck E’s in Love’ by Rickie Lee Jones back in ’78, ’79 and the absolute endless catalogue of great tracks that he has helped to make more magical.”
After revealing that he had met Gadd once before on one of Jools Holland’s programmes when he was playing with Paul Simon, Gilmour expressed his love for the American’s ability to “pull” the sound out of the drums instead of aiming for standard, hard-hitting volume like most tend to do.
Gilmour said: “It’s an extraordinary process when you sit in a room with him… It’s baffling to me; it’s still baffling to me how he manages to get that. I’ve been around a lot of drummers, and a lot of them think that the power is where it’s at, but he just does the opposite.”
